The Child Tax Credit, Educational Investments, and the American Dream: A Moderated Mediation Analysis

In March 2021, the American Rescue Plan substantially increased maximum per-child child tax credit (CTC). However, research has yet to explore educational investments associated with CTC. Thus, authors leverage a probability-based panel survey of CTC-eligible families across 49 states examine how parents’ in tutoring and college savings relate degree which parents believe that their children will have better lives than they did. Through mediation models, find even though used CTC for perceived an impact, intentions were related only optimism through actions savings. Moreover, moderation direct effects using on significant lower income converting plans into was more common among previous experiences.